Carestream recently held a meeting attended by representatives of the public health system of Andalusia, medical specialists and representatives of several autonomous Spanish communities. At the meeting, they shared the results of the new regional digital medical imaging system, the implementation of which was completed at the end of 2015, after 15 months of work.
According to the data provided, the public health system of Andalusia has saved €1,580,000 during the first 15 months of the project’s implementation and it is anticipated that in the coming years an annual saving of 65% will be achieved, compared with the costs of managing and maintaining medical images before the introduction of this system. Given these levels of savings, it is calculated that the investment of €6.7 million will pay for itself in only a little over two years (12.25).
The new system, based on the bilateral cooperation agreement between the Andalusian Health Service (SAS) and Red.es, within the Development of the Digital Public Health System in Andalusia and developed by the UTE (a joint venture between Carestream and Accenture), has allowed the digitisation and storage of more than 30 million radiology and nuclear medicine tests. Access to these is available to 16,000 physicians from the 80 public hospitals in Andalusia and 1,600 health centres throughout the Community. The system also allows those tests performed in subsidised private medical centres to be included.
"This project is a benchmark for other communities, both Spanish and European, since Andalusia is one of the largest regions in Europe, both in extent and number of citizens attending the SAS," stated Santos López, Director of Healthcare IT Business Development, Carestream Iberia.
In Andalusia nearly 10 million radiology and nuclear medicine diagnostic imaging tests are carried out each year. In addition to the savings and advantages for health professionals, the system brings significant benefits to more than 8.5 million Andalusians, as it ensures the same level of medical care can be provided to all citizens, regardless of where they live, and can help avoid the need to repeat tests.
For their part, physicians can access images in less time and from anywhere, analyse the results alongside the clinical history of the patients and consult doctors from other hospitals or health centres.
Investment and other project data
Investment in the project amounted to more than €6.7 million and was based on the previous agreement between the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, through the public corporation, Red.es, with Andalusian Health Service in order to fulfill the objectives of the Digital Agenda for Spain, within the Digital Public Services Plan and the Health and Welfare Programme. Red.es has financed 80% through the Regional European Development Fund (ERDF) and the SAS the other 20%.
The necessary equipment and systems have been installed in two data centres, each with 1.4 petabytes of storage capacity, equivalent to 11,000 250GB personal computers. The number of radiology and nuclear medicine teams providing medical examinations amounts to 1,345.
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